Confections
by YumeTakato
Summary: Sometimes, confections bring about confessions, and sometimes, it's alright that way. (Part 4 and final piece of the Shinoko set. Please read Part 1, But a Moment before this.)


_Please read part one of this Shinoko set,_ _But a Moment_ _, before this. The other 2 aren't as important to this, though they are a decent backdrop to it. Thanks!_

* * *

Somehow, once again, Conan found himself dragged to another Girl Talk gathering between Ran, Sonoko, and Sera. The reason for this choice was clear, being that Sera was at another random fancy hotel that had an incredibly desirable tea time dessert spread involving (but not excluded to) macarons, cupcakes, and cream puffs.

He minded his own business, generally ignoring the present flow of conversation to stare into his reflection in his mildly warm tea, contemplating the pros and cons of being there.

Sonoko shifted, "A love letter in your shoe locker? Really?"

A smirk with fang glinting, "Ah, yeah well… I met up with her at the back of the schoolyard like she asked and let her know while I appreciated her feelings, I wasn't really into girls…" Sera clapped her hands, "Speaking of love confessions, have either of you two ever kissed anyone?"

Both girls jumped a bit at this question, before Ran slumped a little forward with a light blush, "Ah.. not really. Not...Not _yet_ anyway…"

The two other girls grinned, "Ooooh?" Sonoko nudged Ran a bit, "Still hoping for your husband to return to give you that fairy tale kiss you didn't get during the school festival?"

Sera blinked, "Huh?"

Sonoko straightened up proudly, "During our last school festival, Ran was the Princess in our play and Shinichi-kun showed up after a long leave of absence and took the role of the Black Knight! He swooped in like a pro and almost kissed her like I'd directed until..." She sighed dramatically as she deflated, "Until a _murder_ happened…"

Sera almost laughed at Sonoko's disappointment and tone, "So he really _is_ quite the murder-magnet."

Sonoko threw her arms up, "It wasn't like this a couple years ago! It's totally recent!"

Ran covered her mouth for a moment grinning before straightening herself out, "Sonoko, you _do_ remember the skii incident with that movie production…"

Sera quirked an eyebrow while Sonoko covered her face groaning dramatically, "Did you _have_ to remind me of that? My favorite actor! Dead!" She slumped backwards, "He was too handsome to die…"

Ran shook her head, "Well what about you Sera? Have you ever kissed anyone?"

She shrugged, "I'm mistaken for a boy too much, and since most of the places I've lived haven't always required uniforms… I either get ignored, or asked out by girls…"

Ran frowned while Sonoko collected herself, "That's...unfortunate."

Sera shrugged and turned to Sonoko, "Well then Miss Romantic, how about you?"

Sonoko blinked, as if she'd completely lost track of their conversation, "Huh?"

Sera smirked with a devilish look in her eyes, "You're the last one! Have you ever kissed before?"

The heiress suddenly became oddly fidgety at this and quickly snatched a cream puff, "Uh well, I.. what about the glasses brat!" She exclaimed while shoving the pastry in her mouth and pointing at the unsuspecting male who'd managed to be completely ignored up to this point.

Ran and Sera blinked while Conan jolted, suddenly sensing everyone's attention on him, "Bwha?!"

Sera became oddly excited at this, ignoring Sonoko's dodge, "Who'd you kiss first!?"

"Sonoko."

Everyone blinked as a moment of pure silence passed between them all for a solid moment before Conan simply moved his now cold tea onto the table and got off his seat, "Y'know what, I don't even know what's going on anymore so I'm gonna gohomeandseeifUncleneedshelpBYE!"

Sonoko's brain suddenly kicked into gear and she launched herself at the unsuspecting boy, "NOW YOU WAIT HERE A MOMENT EDOGAWA CONAN!" and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him high off the floor, "How DARE you accuse ME, a bright and HEALTHY seventeen year old beautiful girl of having kissed a CHILD! Let alone that child's first KISS!"

Ran had gotten up at some point in the odd confusion and attempted to coax her friend, "Sonoko you should probably put him down…"

"WHY SHOULD I!?"

Sera plucked the unlucky boy out of Sonoko's grasp, realizing that his blush was also part oxygen deprivation, "'Cause you were chokin' him, girl. You could've at least grabbed his _shirt_ instead of his _collar_."

Conan coughed a few times, trying to get sweet, precious air back into his lungs and croaked, "Yeah."

With Ran's hand on her shoulder, leaving enough pressure to signal for her to calm down, Sonoko huffed and crossed her shoulders, "Fine. Sorry brat, but what in the world are you thinking saying that _I_ would _ever_ -"

"I wasn't paying attention." This time Conan looked more than abashed but his slip, as well as generally flustered, though what he was flustered _about_ was oddly debatable with how unnaturally uncomfortable he seemed.

Sensing this, Sera put him on the ground gently, patting his head twice before strolling back over to her seat and crossing her legs, "So boy-a, would you like to explain for the class what that was about?"

Ran guided Sonoko to sit and did so herself while Conan seemed to be contemplating the earth eating him whole, "Ah..uhm… not.. Particularly?"

Sera leaned forward, an elbow perched on her knee, "So is it true for you _in general_ , or true for _as you are now_?"

The two other girls looked at Sera oddly at her phrasing while Conan stared at the female detective in an almost glare, a deep frown marring his face as he crossed his arms. Ran looked between the two, sensing the complete shift in atmosphere, and sensing something oddly familiar, yet distressing about it, "Sera-san… maybe-"

Sonoko huffed, "Out with it kid, what's the deal?"

Conan ignored her for a moment, still somewhat glaring at Sera, "If we're talking about as things are _now_ , Ayumi kissed me on the cheek practically when we _met_ and I _hated it_. But if we're talking about as things were _before_ , then _yes_ , it _was_ Sonoko-neechan, but it wasn't because I _liked_ her or anything."

And for some reason, a moonlit night in a maze garden, backdropped with a beautifully lit up fountain almost swallowed Sonoko's world, as she remembered her embarrassment, tears of humiliation, and surprise as her childhood friend kissed her, ' _You're just fine the way you are, Sonoko._ '

She jolted out of her annoyance, as if recalling the fact that she occasionally realized and _knew_ the annoying pipsqueak they dragged around was actually _probably_ Kudo Shinichi and he _wasn't really lying_ but he also _was never supposed to let Ran know about that incident!_

Abruptly she stood, "Y'know what? We're gonna have a _talk._ " Conan shook himself out of his mini glaring contest at Sera as he gasped in surprised and stepped back, " _ **Right. Now.**_ " And without any preamble, she snatched him by the arm and bodily dragged his pathetic resistance into and down the hallway. She ignored Ran's startled gasp of her name and Sera's laughing, continuing well out of earshot. The next thing she knew she was on the roof, a child's kick to the back of her calf finally jolting her out of her haze.

"- _o_ _ **ko**_!"

She shuddered and released the boy she'd dragged alongside of her as he dropped, no longer receiving the resistance he'd been fighting against, "Uff!"

She blinked, finally coming back to herself, "Uh.. sorry kid."

Conan huffed as he stood up, dusting his clothes and hands off before crossed his arms in annoyance, "Well?"

She quirked her eyebrow, "Well _what_ brat?"

He sighed, "What're we _talking_ about?"

She flung her arms out, "I don't _know_ anymore, ok?" She leaned down to him, her annoyance clear on her face, "Unless I'm talking to _Shinichi_ , this doesn't really _concern anything with_ _ **you**_ , right?!" Sonoko straightened back up with her arms crossed, "Well?!"

Conan gave her a rather long and hard stare as he frowned at the situation before sighing loudly, his arms dropping as he half shuffled around and looked away from her, "Well, I _guess_ we're talking about it then."

Sonoko blinked, had she seriously won a verbal round with him? "Auh- Are you serious?! You? _**YOU'RE**_ -!"

He snapped his head to her, teeth bared as he hissed, " _ **Yes**_ , ok?! I'm _Shinichi_ , so keep _down_ already!" He started pacing in what she was realizing was more than likely a newly picked up nervous habit. "For some reason I get the feeling you've thought of me as _Shinichi_ before, so what clued _you_ in? Why did you ever think that? Ran has every excuse and _right_ to have figured me out, but _**you**_?!"

She growled, "What, do you think I'm _that_ stupid?!"

He looked at her pausing, mouth opening for a moment before huffing with a shrug, "Occasionally."

That sort of stung, except that she immediately recalled the fact that most of their friendship was based on _tolerating_ eachother's eccentricities, while keeping the peace primarily for _Ran_. That didn't stop her from wanting to at least _punt_ hum, but that would be more than disadvantageous and rude at best, since he _was_ stuck in a child's body. She'd _already_ managed to bodilly lift him as well as drag him around enough for more than a lifetime in a span of five minutes. "Alright. I'm not going to ask the _how's_ or _why's_ , 'cause that'll come _later_ and _someday_ when the timing's better."

Shinichi seemed to have stopped his manic pacing and was now staring at her with awed attention, "Uh… alright?"

To that Sonoko simply shrugged, "You're just _too you_ , that I just realized it."

His mouth opened and closed for a bit before he snapped his mouth shut and shook his head, exasperated, "Honestly, Sonoko."

She smirked for a moment before getting serious again, "I'm pretty sure we swore to _never talk_ about that first kiss..?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes and did a partial neck roll, as if it would help get the kinks out of his life instead of his shoulders, "You know, even detective geniuses _like me_ screw up and get lost in the moment. I wasn't paying attention, and all of a sudden you girls bring up _kisses_ , and since I do my best to block out _any_ that've occured since I became like… _this_ , the truth came out."

Sonoko stared for him a moment before nodding, finally relenting, "So…" she smirked, "A kiss with me was better than the many you've gotten as a-kid-again?"

Shinichi glared at her, "Kiddie kisses are absolutely revolting."

The heiress snorted, as a giggle attempted to bubble up at the back of her throat, " _Kudo-_ "

He flailed his arms, "I've had to get used to having kiddie classes, and kiddie friends, but children a _germ magnets_! They do the weirdest things! They'll lick stuff they shouldn't-"

"I'm sure you have too-"

"That's not the-! Oh come on!"

Sonoko quirked an eyebrow, "Haven't you, in a crime scene, used your finger and then tasted something to gain evidence?"

He was stuck gaping like a fish for a moment before he huffed and promptly sat down cross legged, arms folded across his chest as he effectively _pouted_ , "Shut up Sonoko."

Sonoko beamed, "Whatever Shinichi."

It took about 10 more minutes after that for Shinichi to collect himself back into _Conan_ , (which was something of an oddly disturbing sight to see), before the two of them returned to their baffled friends.

Sera practically pounced on Conan first, "So! What'd you guys talk about?"

Sonoko pushed her lightly for crowding his space, "Why you don't play tricks on teenage girls. Ran, make sure he helps you with picking up groceries or something for the next few days as punishment for his poor taste in _jokes_."

Ran paused, seemingly knowing that was somehow complete crap, but finding it not worth arguing over shrugged, "Of course. Do I need to have a talk with him about anything else in particular?"

She smiled, "Nope! I think I covered everything the little guy needs to know about his _manners_."

Conan just crawled back onto his previous seat after snatching a cookie and munched on it while grumbling to himself lowly.

Sera huffed, "Awe, but I wanted to know what you guys talked about!"

The heiress glared at her, "Do you really need to know?"

The female detective blinked, suddenly realizing her joke was now going too far and her amusement was rude, "Ah.. no, sorry for pushing it." she lifted her hands in a calming surrender.

Sonoko nodded sharply, "Good."

Ran rubbed her shoulder, "So then… what about you Sonoko?"

She blinked, "Huh?"

"Who was your first kiss?"

A pause, a breath, a reminiscent look, and secretive smile, "A knight I'll never forget."

* * *

 _The final part of the Shinoko series, finally written out probably a solid year after coming up with this initial scenario. It's been bouncing around my head for some time and every time I've meant to write it I haven't, so here we are. The circle is complete. Please Review!_


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